The Detroit Lions were leading the New Orleans Saints for all of a few minutes until they once again fell apart, allowing the Saints to retake the lead and erase an early 14 point deficit with ease.
Detroit has blown leads very easily before this season, but it seems as if nobody has blown them as historically as they have in 2020. Detroit’s shortened lead was just the 3rd time in NFL history a team had enjoyed a 14 point advantage, then gone into half trailing by the exact same amount.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Saints were the 4th team in NFL history to hold a halftime lead of 14+ points after trailing by 14+. The other 3 instances:
2011 Jaguars led the Buccaneers
1985 Jets led by Buccaneers
1965 Vikings led the Rams
Obviously, it’s not a common occurrence thanks to the fact that most teams can maintain a lead or at the very least remain tied, but the 2020 Lions just don’t have that knack for greatness in terms of protecting leads.
No matter the lead, it seems like Detroit in in deep trouble in any game during 2020.
Lions Early Season Defeats Also Historical
As a result of a loss agains the Packers , the Lions now stand alone in NFL history as the only team to have blown 4 straight games in which they led by double digits. If that isn’t enough, the Lions have now lost 11 straight games, which is the most since they were 0-16 in 2008.
The Lions become the first team in NFL history to lose 4 straight games in which they had a double-digit lead, according to @EliasSports.
Detroit has lost 11 straight games, its most since losing 19 in a row from 2007-09, including the first-ever 0-16 season in league history.
Detroit has been close plenty the last few seasons including Week 1, but close is no longer going to cut it for a coaching staff and team who’s top goal this season was to get the job done and apply the dagger, if you will.
Coming into this season, entering a fourth quarter with a 17 point lead or more all but assured victory for a team in the last 14 years. That was the case until the Lions came along and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, something they’ve become accustomed to doing throughout their history.
As Warren Sharp pointed out, NFL teams had won an incredible 779 games since 2006 with such a commanding late lead. Detroit’s defeat was only one of less than a handful in that mark, which is a gaudy number to consider that proves epic comebacks aren’t exactly the norm in the NFL.
The Lions became just the 4th team since 2006 to blow a 17+ point lead entering the 4th quarter.
Teams had been 779-3 (99.6%) in that span.
If there was ever going to be a team that would fall into the worst possible 1% and lose, however, it would be the Lions. It’s true the team seems to invent new ways to frustrate and disappoint their fans, and this is just merely the latest example and quite possibly the cherry on top.
Even when there’s a 99% chance at victory thanks to a double digit lead, it can officially be said that the Lions don’t have things sewn up enough to feel comfortable. That’s true in the late stages or even the early stages. It’s a sobering thought for fans.
Jeff Daniels Frustrated With Lions
Actor Jeff Daniels grew up in Michigan as a rabid Lions fan. He’s been with the team for decades in addition to all Detroit teams. He sticks with the Lions even to this day, but as he admitted, it’s getting tough to do so in 2020 given all the ways the team has toyed with his emotions lately.
Joining The Rich Eisen Show, Daniels explained more about his love for the team, but felt the need to get most of the frustrations he’s experienced over the last few weeks off his chest completely. His thoughts likely echoed scores of Lions fans in the state and across the world.
Like #Lions fans everywhere, the great @Jeff_Daniels is just wondering what different way this team can let him down on a weekly basis:
Daniels said:
“They break your heart, they don’t just lose, they break your heart in doing so. You can’t be ahead 17-3 or whatever it was or 23-6 or something. You just know, if you lean towards ‘we’re gonna win’ you’re going to get your heart broken. It’s just, you think we’re cursed I don’t know, but it’s getting difficult. It’s getting real difficult.”
As for whether or not Daniels is giving up on the Lions for good, the answer of course is no. Still, he’s also not devoting much undivided attention to them given the outcome of some of their games lately. As he said, he keeps tabs of the action, but tries not to get too emotionally invested in the outcome given how devastating they’ve become.
“They’re on in the background, let me put it that way. It’s hard to sit there leaning forward into the television set when you know you’re going to get your heart broken. So sometimes you leave them on in the event something crazy happens like we’re ahead by 2 touchdowns with 30 seconds to go, but still, hang on. But generally, these first 2 games, it’s been the same thing, like ‘then in the second half, we’re going to break your heart.’ It’s like okay, okay.”
Detroit has had a tough start to the season in which people demanded and expected more, and Daniels’ own frustration sums up the feelings of Detroit fans perfectly at the moment. Most everybody feels the same way who follows the team closely, and the frustration with the start to the season has been palpable.
This is just another miserable statistic in a season full of them for Detroit.
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Lions Short Lived Sunday Lead Adds To Improbable NFL History